Eastern spadefoot toad

This article is about the Asian genus. For other species, like the North American eastern spadefoot, see Eastern spadefoot (disambiguation).

Eastern spadefoot toads
Leptobrachium hasseltii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Megophryidae
Genus: Leptobrachium
Tschudi, 1838
Type species
Leptobrachium hasseltii
Tschudi, 1838
Species

About 35, see text.

Eastern spadefoot toads (Leptobrachium, also known as large-eyed litter frogs[1]) comprise a genus of the family Megophryidae in the order Anura, and are found in southern China, northeast India, southeast Asia, and islands of the Sunda Shelf as well as the Philippines.[2] They are characterized by a stocky body with slender, short hindlimbs.[3] In identifying species, iris colour is a valuable diagnostic morphological characteristic (see Leptobrachium bompu for an example of a blue-eyed species); the iris has uniform colour in some species, whereas in other species the upper half is coloured and the lower half is dark.[4]

Leptobrachium boringii male at the height of the breeding season. Nuptial spines are clearly visible.[5] This character has been used to define subgenus Vibrissaphora.

The sister taxon of Leptobrachium is a clade that includes Scutiger and Oreolalax.[2][6]

  1. ^ Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan. New Holland Publishers. 2006. p. 69. ISBN 1845373782.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Frost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Matsui, Masafumi; Jarujin Nabhitabhata; Somsak Panha (1999). "On Leptobrachium from Thailand with a description of a new species (Anura: Pelobatidae)". Japanese Journal of Herpetology. 18 (1): 19–29. doi:10.5358/hsj1972.18.1_19.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matsui2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Hudson, C. M.; Fu, J. (2013). "Male-biased sexual size dimorphism, resource defense polygyny, and multiple paternity in the Emei moustache toad (Leptobrachium boringii)". PLOS ONE. 8 (6): e67502. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...867502H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067502. PMC 3696078. PMID 23840725.
  6. ^ Pyron, A. R.; Wiens, J. J. (2011). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 543–583. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. PMID 21723399.